


A Home At The End Of The Stars

by Lafaiette



Series: Ad Astra [5]
Category: Vampire Hunter D (Anime & Manga)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Canon-Typical Violence, D has no chill, F/M, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Love, Outer Space, True Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2019-11-08 07:24:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 17,078
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17976920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lafaiette/pseuds/Lafaiette
Summary: Esther had three duties, now: one towards her parents and the City they had brought back to life; one towards the people who had helped them; and one towards the dhampirs on Earth. If she wanted to honour the first one, she had to honour the last two first.Meier and Charlotte's daughter decides to visit Earth to thank those who helped her parents and to help people in return. She thinks she knows what to expect, but the Frontier has always been a surprising place.Sequel toGarden of Stars.





	1. Prologue

One night, Esther found an old book about dhampirs abandoned in a dark corner of the main library of the castle. That topic had always been important to her for obvious reasons, but when she began to read the first pages, she felt tears prickle her eyes.

The book – without any title on the torn cover, its pages yellowish and thin -, told how awful life was for dhampirs on Earth. It described in great detail the hatred they were subjected to by both Nobles and humans; they weren’t considered part of either world and were constantly pushed away, often hurt, tortured, or killed, always mistrusted. Humans didn’t sell them anything or buy anything from them, Nobles didn’t tolerate them on their territory. It was a life full of reject and loneliness.

She thought she already knew how hard life for dhampirs was on Earth; she had read books about it and her parents had told her about the dhampirs’ struggle on their native planet. But the details had never been so many, so vivid, and so terrible. She had always had the impression that her parents often shielded her from the worst information and the other volumes in the library were equally vague about the more painful topics.

She read the whole book in a few hours – it wasn’t that long to begin with – and only when a robot maid found her and told her that dinner was ready, she left the library and went to the dining room where her parents were waiting for her. She managed to hide the tumultuous feelings warring inside her; she felt bad for the people who shared her condition – human blood and Noble blood coursing through their veins just like they did in hers -, but who had never known the love and peace she knew. She hated the ways and maddening rules of Earth even more, but at the same time she was interested in that planet’s history and she wished she could do something to make things better.

She felt she had the power to do that. Her parents kept sending anonymous information, formulas, and projects to the planet thanks to the communicator they had found in the City, but they didn’t know whether all that stuff was being ignored, actually used, or even received and read at all. Theirs was an innocent hope, the desire to make things better for those who were like their daughter and those who, like them, desired to live in peace with their Noble or human beloved.

Esther was distracted for the whole meal, but she justified herself saying she had much to study – her parents and her robot teacher gave her much homework and many things to read and learn. Her mother and her father shared a worried look and told her to rest and take it easy. There was no hurry, after all, Charlotte said while caressing her hair, and Meier slipped a portion of his blood cake into her plate, saying she needed to eat and sleep more.

She sneaked out of her room once she was sure her parents were asleep and the kind robots all busy in other parts of the castle. Moon and Cosmos, her loyal dogs, followed her quietly, still strong and agile thanks to their cybernetic parts. She wanted to breathe some fresh air and sit among the silver flowers in the field near the castle. She needed to think of the future, of what she wanted to do now that she better knew how terrible dhampirs’ life on Earth was.

When she had realized that her parents would die sooner or later (her mother due to her human nature, her vampire father out of suicide to follow her into the afterlife), Esther had decided she would remain in the City with the robots, take care of it for any eventual visitor and to honour her parents, and perhaps visit the nearby stars and planets every once in a while. She had always disliked the idea of Earth, of that planet that had made her father and her mother suffer so much, that ruined globe where Nobles and humans continuously fought each other and themselves.

But now, Esther felt responsible. She was there in the City, living an idyllic life, while other dhampirs like her were suffering, being chased, and killed only because they belonged to both worlds. Her parents had every right of living a safe, quiet life in that secluded part of space – they had suffered so much and they deserved all the peace in the world -, but she, Esther, had a duty, or so she felt now.

In that book she had found there were also pictures, depictions of the terrible acts of torture to which dhampirs on Earth were often subjected to. Thinking about those images made her shiver and she wondered if any dhampir had ever read the useful information and the universal water formula her parents had sent to Earth. Was their life really better, now, or were things even worse?

She thought about the Barbaroi who had helped her father and her mother escape, about the Huntress in red, about the Vampire Hunter D, a dhampir like her. She wondered how they were, how their life was like, if the Hunter D’s opinion about Nobles had somewhat changed. Would he be happy to know that her parents were safe and happy, that their love, genuine, true, and strong, had given birth to her? Would he be happy to know about the universal water her mother had created, that special liquid that allowed Nobles, humans, and dhampirs alike to bathe in it without problems? Would he be happy to know that the City had been a haven for couples like her parents and for dhampirs like her and himself?

“There is only us here, now.” Esther murmured, caressing Cosmos and Moon’s heads. “Maybe that should change. Maybe the City should be reopened to other people again.”

If things on Earth couldn’t change, then what were the dhampirs over there supposed to do? Wasn’t her duty as one of them to tell them about that safe place floating in space, a city that had welcomed them in the far past and that could be their refuge again? Her parents had closed almost all relations to their old world, too scarred by the events they had experienced there to be comfortable with new people. But she was different – she had always lived with them, the robots, and the dogs only. She had never experienced the same pain as her parents had, so there was no reason for her to live hidden, hating a planet that had hurt her parents, but also given birth to them, a planet that had seen them fall in love with each other, a planet where that Huntress in red and the Hunter D had helped them escape.

Torn by all these thoughts and confusing feelings, she kissed her dogs’ heads and went back into the castle with them. The walk in the silver field helped her fall asleep soon, but her dreams that night were weird; she dreamed about the sun, which she had seen only in books and movies, and about a sleek and small starship waiting for her on a green field.

Her mother woke her up for breakfast, but she was too tired to go. Seeing her face, paler than usual, and the eyebags under her eyes, Charlotte sat on the edge of the bed and asked worriedly: “Starlight, are you alright?”

“Yes.” Esther sat up, her hair sticking out in all directions after her rough night. She sighed and leaned into her mother’s warm body; her arms immediately enveloped her in a tight hug which Esther returned, her head now resting on Charlotte’s chest.

“What is it, pumpkin?” Charlotte’s hand softly caressed her cheek. “Are you feeling unwell? I read that dhampirs don’t usually suffer from illnesses, but…”

“I’m fine! I’m just…” She took a deep breath, trying to come up with the right words. When she looked up at her mother, she found her staring at her with great concern. She looked as beautiful and healthy as always, but Esther could see the traces that time had left on her and her heart twisted painfully in her chest.

“Mom…” she started, slightly pulling away to better look and speak to her. “Mom, could you… could you tell me what really happened to you and Dad on Earth? I know it wasn’t the sheriff of your city who sent those Hunters after you.”

Her parents had never fully disclosed to her the details of their escape. She knew they had run from Hunters with the help of the Barbaroi, that an evil Noble woman had tricked them and had almost killed Charlotte, that the Huntress in red and the Hunter D had changed their minds and helped them flee from the planet. But the details had always been vague and every time Esther had tried to ask more about the Hunters and the reason they had been hired, her parents had always changed topic or answered in a vague way.

Some years ago, Charlotte had told her she didn’t have any family left on Earth and at first Esther had believed her. But then, doubts had started assaulting her and the more she thought about their story, the more things sounded strange or incomplete. She was missing some important pieces of the puzzle and she was sure one was related to her mother’s family.

As she had expected, Charlotte went pale and looked down at her lap, quiet. Esther gently tugged at her green dress, saying: “Mom, please. I’m twenty, now. I deserve to know the truth.”

Her mother opened her mouth, then closed it. A long silence followed, until Charlotte broke it with a soft sigh.

“Get dressed, starlight. Your father and I will wait for you in the dining room.” She smiled at her, a small, scared thing that made Esther regret her request. “You are right. It’s time to tell you.”

Esther took her time, wanting her parents to prepare themselves for what they were about to tell her. She also needed to prepare _herself_ , for she had no idea what to expect, now. What was the secret behind the Hunters hired to chase them? She had a vague idea in mind, but she didn’t dare pronounce it out loud.

When she joined her parents into the dining room, she found them sitting on a couch, holding hands. Her mother was still pale and her father serious and sombre, an arm wrapped around Charlotte’s shoulders as he squeezed her fingers. They looked up when Esther entered the room and Meier nodded at the other couch in front of them.

“Starlight.” he said in an even, mild tone. He was a Noble, so time had barely no effect on him, but there were some minor lines on his face, too. “There is something your mother and I need to tell you.”

For a moment, Esther feared the worst. Was she adopted? How could it be, when she looked so similar to both of them! Maybe it concerned some kind of illness related to their lineage? Maybe the Hunters had never existed and her parents had come up with that detail for who knew what reason?

She swallowed and nodded, too nervous to speak. She looked back and forth from her mother to her father and they returned her look with soft and equally nervous gazes. Then Meier turned to Charlotte, kissed her cheek, and whispered something. She nodded and made an affirmative sound, before starting: “Esther, little moon… When your father and I left Earth, I had… I had a father and a brother. It was them who sent those Hunters after us.” She took a deep breath and leaned into her husband’s embrace, then continued: “They discovered our relationship and disapproved greatly. When they found out I had run away with Meier, they hired the Hunter D and another group to either take me back home by force or kill me and your father.”

Esther sat utterly still, her eyes fixed on her parents. Her father’s eyes were cast down, staring at the thick carpet; her mother was looking at her through a veil of tears, her hand clutching Meier’s.

“We… We didn’t want to tell you. How could we? Your grandfather and your uncle tried to kill us, they hated the very idea of us being together, they feared and despised Meier! We couldn’t tell you this was the family you still had left on Earth.” Charlotte made a weird noise, a sort of growl, and shook her head. “No, not family. They cannot be considered such anymore, not after what happened.”

“My love…” Meier intervened, turning to her with a sad look. “They thought they were helping you.”

“No. They didn’t want to help me, they wanted to help themselves and the reputation of our family.” Her voice was angry and bitter, like Esther had never heard it before, and when she turned to her husband her eyes were blazing. “They never listened, Meier! They never tried to understand, to meet and know you! What do you think they would say about Esther?” Charlotte stifled a sob and looked at Esther again, pressing a hand on her mouth. “Oh, starlight! This is why we didn’t want to tell you!”

“Are they… do you think they are still alive?” Esther asked, her mind going too fast, her body frozen on the couch. A part of her was happy to know that it wasn’t anything _too_ serious, but another one was even sadder than before for her parents, for the terrible things they had gone through, for the worry, rage, and pain her mother must have felt when she had realized the Hunters had been sent by her own family.

She also couldn’t wrap her mind around the concept of having a grandfather and an uncle. She agreed with Charlotte when she said that they would probably hate her and what she represented – a union between human and Noble blood. They wouldn’t see her parents’ love in her, but only a horrible sin.

“I don’t know.” Charlotte replied, hiccupping and drying her tears with a handkerchief Meier had given her. “Your grandfather was already quite old and frail when your father and I ran away. So many years have passed, I’m not sure he…”

“What about my… my uncle?”

“He may still be alive. But life on the Frontier is hard, even in a safe city like the one we lived in, even for a wealthy man. Also, that city was safe only because your father kept it that way. It was thanks to him that we could live every day without worrying about other Nobles and mutants. After we left, things probably got more dangerous there.”

“And the Hunters?” Esther was ready for the next piece of the puzzle. “Tell me more about them. Tell me what happened.” She leaned in, staring at her parents. “Please! I know there is more!”

With a broken voice, Meier told her of the villager he had bitten out of worry and rage. Charlotte was in danger, he explained, and when the bullets struck him and the carriage and he heard her scream, he couldn’t hold his fangs back anymore. His lips trembled as he told Esther the facts of that night – he looked down in shame as he continued, saying the Hunter D had doubted his good reputation and had kept chasing him not only to take Charlotte back home, but also to kill him for having accidentally destroyed that village.

Charlotte squeezed his hand and kissed his cheek, murmuring words of reassurance; he seemed to feel better and was able to continue: “There were also the Marcus Brothers chasing us. They all died, killed by the Barbaroi protecting us, except for the Huntress in red. They almost got us after ambushing us on a bridge.”

“Your father stepped into the sun to save me!” Charlotte intervened, making Esther gasp, and her astonishment grew when Meier added: “And your mother pushed away her captor to run to me. She took one of the silver arrows they had shot at me and brought it to her neck. She was willing to kill herself to stay with me. Fortunately, one of the Barbaroi managed to save us in time.”

They filled in the last details and by the end of the complete story, they were spent, but also satisfied and so much lighter. Esther sat with a focused expression on her face, thinking hard for a long time, then she smiled at them.

“Thank you for telling me this.” She got up and ran to them; she hugged them tightly and they returned the hug with equal strength, kissing her hair and smiling at her through tears that were now tears of joy.

“Are you alright, pumpkin?” Charlotte asked her and she nodded with a huge smile. Now, more than ever, she knew what to do. Her father had told her the Hunter D clearly despised his origins, that he believed his Noble blood would turn against him and against humans sooner or later. That much Meier had been able to understand from the two interactions they had had and from what Charlotte had told him about her short meeting with him in the overflown ruins.

Esther had three duties, now: one towards her parents and the City they had brought back to life; one towards the people who had helped them; and one towards the dhampirs on Earth. If she wanted to honour the first one, she had to honour the last two first.

“Mom, Dad.” she said, taking their hands in hers. “I’ve come to an important decision.”

Meier and Charlotte shared a surprised look which was then directed at her.

“Tell us, starlight.” Meier said and Esther stood straighter and proud and announced: “I will go and stay on Earth for a few months.”


	2. To Earth

Meier and Charlotte stared at her as if she had gone insane. Then chaos ensued and the room got filled with their babbled exclamations of horror, worry, and even anger caused by that same worry.

“You can’t go there! You will be killed!”

“Starlight, what are you saying? You don’t know Earth, it’s a dangerous, ruthless place – you wouldn’t survive one day there!”

But when she insisted, saying she would train more and learn everything there was to learn to survive there, their cries increased and her father’s face turned dark and more serious than ever.

“No! Absolutely no! We won’t send our daughter to that awful place! And for what? To bring a message of salvation that we can easily send with our communicator here?”

“It’s not just about that! I want to meet the people who helped you! I want…” Esther took a deep breath. She wanted many things and all of them were on Earth – a frightening thought, but she felt she needed to do that. She couldn’t keep living in the City of the Night without learning some things first-hand and seeing with her own eyes the planet her parents came from. The planet which had, in a certain sense, allowed her to be where she currently was.

“I want to see if all the info about dhampirs and the formulas we sent have arrived safely. I want to see if they helped someone. I want to _help_ in return.” She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling cold despite the warmth of the castle and the roaring fire in the fireplace. “I can’t keep staying here, protected and isolated, for the rest of my eternal life without seeing Earth at least once.”

“You always hated that planet.” Meier’s crimson eyes were narrowed, his worried anger slowly rising. “Why the sudden change?”

“I just told you! I want to see it, only once!” She was trembling, not used to arguing with her parents like that. She had never caused her mother to cry and now Charlotte was quietly sobbing, looking at her with tearful eyes and quivering lips. And her father – she had never seen him so furious, so worried, he had never raised his voice at her. Now he was standing with his fists clenched, glaring at her.

“It’s where everything began. It’s… It’s where I come from, too, if you think about it.” She looked down at her shoes; Charlotte had decorated them for her, adding flowers and stars made out of coloured cloth.

“I still don’t like Earth, but it intrigues me at the same time.” She looked at her parents again, hope in her eyes and her heart. “I’m sure I would have no problems with some training! Dad, you could teach me how to fight! You said my powers have fully developed, now!”

“Esther, how do you even intend to go there?” Charlotte asked, her voice broken. “The ship your father and I used is very old and the trip from and to Earth takes three years.” She sobbed and covered her mouth with a hand, shaking her head. “You would be away for _six years_!”

“I… I found blueprints of smaller ships in one of the old castles of the City!” Esther went to her mother, her heart breaking in seeing her cry like that. “Mom, they used new ships to travel to the stars near the City! They are way faster than the one you used to come here!”

She took her hands – they were warm, but not as usual, and Esther realized her mother was actually cold, even though her own dhampir body temperature didn’t let her feel it. Charlotte looked at her through her tears, her hands and lips shaking, but there was no rage in her eyes, only sadness, concern, and perhaps a bit of surprise. She and Meier had never expected their daughter to have such a request, such a desire to go to Earth, but it seemed she understood her reasoning, at least partially.

“The blueprints and some calculations I found said that the trip to Earth with those ships would take only six months. They are a new model, created many centuries after the ship you used. It cannot house more than a few people, but it’s incredibly fast.” Esther tried to smile at her and make her smile in return. “I would be gone only for a year and a few months! I don’t plan on staying long on Earth, anyway, I would just…” She stopped, staring into her mother’s eyes which were identical to hers. “I… I would just visit the people who helped you and explore a little.”

Charlotte said nothing, but at least she had stopped crying and her hands were tightly gripping Esther’s.

Meier intervened with father’s despair. Both women felt his vampiric vibes, an unfamiliar feeling since he never used them, never had any reason to. But that night he was so worried, angry, and sad that he couldn’t refrain himself and hold them back. Charlotte gasped, her eyes wide with amazement, while Esther’s own vibes reacted to her father’s and her fangs got a bit longer, her amber eyes turning red.

“You won’t go anywhere!” He was shaking hard, glaring at her through a veil of tears. “It’s too dangerous! It’s pure madness! And I don’t care how carefully you planned this – for you clearly thought about this a lot. I won’t let you do this, Esther.”

He moved to leave the room, wanting to conclude the conversation; but Esther stepped in front of him and grabbed his arm, pleading him with her eyes and her words.

“Dad, please! I’m sure I will do fine with a good training! You and Mom could help me build one of those ships and I would be back soon!”

“You wouldn’t be back _at all_!” Meier grabbed her hand – not painfully, but tight enough to stop her on her tracks. His tears were streaming down his face, now. “You know better than me and your mother how awful the life of dhampirs is on Earth! You would be haunted by both Nobles and humans!”

“But…”

“And the sun! You’ve never seen it, never walked in it! For all we know, your sun syndrome could be so bad that it could kill you quickly on the spot! Haven’t you thought about this?”

“I would cover myself well or hide somewhere dark until night! I would find a way!”

“Find a way to die, perhaps!” He shook his head. “No! I can’t let you do this!” He let her hand go and freed himself from her further attempts to grab him. “I will find those blueprints and hide them somewhere safe!”

“Dad, please!” Esther turned to her mother, clasping her hands in a begging gesture. “Mom, say something! He will listen to you!”

Charlotte looked at her husband opening the wide doors without a gesture, his telekinetic pull so strong they banged against the wall. He left the room with long strides, breathing heavily, and she went after him after giving Esther an apologetic look. She remained there in front of the fireplace, eyes cast down, but her heart still strong and confident.

 

\- - -

 

“I looked for the blueprints _everywhere_ in our castle, but I couldn’t find them.”

Meier walked up and down the bedroom, too nervous to sit down or join Charlotte in bed. He was pale, his eyes unable to set on anything, his hands still shaking, his hair dishevelled. He looked on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

“She must have hidden them in another part of the City. I will ask the robots to help me tomorrow and…”

“Meier, honey.” Charlotte reached for him and he went to her, a puppy-like look on his face. He sat on the edge of the bed and took her hand, kissing it.

“You know she probably copied them or even memorized them.” She sighed and cupped his cheek. “And you also know we cannot stop her.”

His eyes widened at that, but then he admitted she was right with a heavy sigh and a short nod of his head. He looked down at their entwined hands, tracing the veins and lines on hers, rubbing his thumb on her palm.

“Honey.” she continued, her voice soft like the flowers that decorated the entire room. “What if she decides to do it all by herself? She will build that ship without our help, without receiving any precious training, and will go down to Earth without knowing anything about the rules there.” She took a shaky breath. “She is going anyway. Let’s at least make sure she will be fully, completely prepared and ready.”

“I…” He shook his head with another sigh. “I don’t want us to be the cause of her death. If we help her train and build that ship, if we let her go to Earth and then learn that she has been killed…” His lips quivered and he looked at his wife through a new veil of tears. “I couldn’t live with that guilt, Charlotte.”

“Oh, love. We would actually give her a chance to survive.” Charlotte kissed his hand and tried to smile at him. “We can’t keep her from Earth forever. She is right; that’s also her home, if you think about it. It’s where we met and fell in love.”

Meier made a low sound of agreement and wrapped an arm around her shoulders; Charlotte leaned into him and pressed her lips on his chin, adding softly: “Meier, we must have faith in her. She is strong. If we help her, she will get even stronger and…” Tears spilled from her eyes and she stifled a loud sob behind her hand. “And she will come back to us, safe and sound.”

They hugged and found comfort and hope in each other’s touch and presence. They reassured each other for the next hours and didn’t sleep much; when it was time to get up, they went to Esther’s room and were not surprised to find her preparing tools and various kits clearly made to build something big and complex.

She looked like she hadn’t slept much, either, and she tensed up a little when they entered; but she noticed immediately their more relaxed stance and their calmer eyes, their soft smiles and the resignation, but also confidence that were in them.

“Esther.” her father started, his voice quiet and gentle. “Starlight, let’s talk a little.”

They talked for many hours, actually, and Esther was delighted to hear they would help her prepare for the trip to Earth. They made her promise she would be careful and in constant touch with them. She was to find any kind of computer or relay on Earth that could be connected to the communicator on the City and tell them how she was; in case things should get too hard and dangerous, she would go back home immediately.

“Your father and I will help you build the ship. We already talked with Mr. Butler – there are many robots that know this technology and they will help as well.” Charlotte took her hands in hers. “Starlight, why don’t you bring some of them with you? They will protect you!”

“They would attract too much attention, Mom. I need to be as nondescript as possible, remember?” Esther smiled reassuringly at her when she sighed and nodded. “Don’t worry! I will bring Moon and Cosmos with me!”

“I guess they will defend you better than most.” Meier agreed with a lopsided smile, then he sighed, too. “You need to train, stardust. You already know how to use your powers, but you must be ready to use them in battle as well.”

“Also, you never met new people.” Charlotte added, caressing her hair. “Dad and I will help you with this, too. It will be useful to know more about certain things while on Earth - you are a dhampir and people will treat you differently because of this. You need to win their trust.” Her eyes welled up with tears again and she pulled her daughter into a tight hug. “Oh, my little pumpkin!”

They started immediately. During those first hours of the ‘morning’, they worked on the ship. Esther had hidden the blueprints in the nook of a tree stump near the castle – Meier mumbled something under his breath when he saw it, but didn’t comment further on it.

The landing docks, where the old ship he and Charlotte had used to come to the City still was, were the perfect place to build the one Esther would use. The robots knew much about the tools and parts they needed and since that model was newer, they had all seen it and knew how it worked. In fact, some of the last Nobles who had left the City had used that very model, since it was faster than the old ones. It wasn’t comfortable like the bat-shaped ships, due to its smaller size, but it was perfect for planetary explorations.

In the ‘afternoon’, they focused on Esther’s training. Her previous lessons with Meier had been relaxed and amusing; they had been more like games than true training routines. This time, he made her dodge, run, and fight relentlessly. Her life depended on it and he wanted her to put all her effort into it and learn how to defend herself and counterattack to any kind of harm.

She also spent many hours in a special room that the robots had repurposed for her. They had installed many strong lights in it, whose warm, orange hue slightly prickled her eyes and warmed her skin up to an unpleasant degree. It was supposed to mirror the sun – the closest imitation of it they could get there – and she got a first taste of her limits.

The first time she stood in the room, her body reacted so badly she spent two days in bed, suffering from a light form of sun syndrome that hurt her terribly. Her parents almost changed their minds about letting her go to Earth, but she managed to convince them she would be fine – thankfully, her body did get used to those conditions which it had never experienced before and her resistance to the effects of the sun grew. Charlotte warned her that the _real_ thing would be worse and that she would need to be extra careful once on Earth – Meier confirmed that with a haunted look on his face, recalling the long minutes he had spent burning on that bridge, many years ago; Esther swore she would be and she and her parents changed her wardrobe for the trip accordingly, adding more protective layers, scarves, and hoods.

Finally, Charlotte started teaching her the more nuanced manners she would need on Earth. Esther had never needed to know how to introduce herself to a new person, how to ask for directions, how to deal with someone’s distrust. She had always ever known only her parents, the robots, and the City and nobody had ever tried to hurt, trick, or fool her there. She needed to learn how to interact with strangers, how to become friends with people, how to get to know them.

She trained hard for a year or so. She learned all the combat skills and tricks her father knew, all the etiquette rules and social skills her mother possessed, reread all the information about Earth she could find. The Earth movies they had watched so often offered a somewhat distorted vision of how people really acted and behaved, but they could still be useful, so she watched them again, too, and tried to extrapolate from them only the true, important details.

As soon as the ship was ready, she and her parents used it to make sure everything was okay with it. They flew for many hours, then days, around the City, sleeping in it. During those days, Meier and Charlotte sounded and looked younger – the experience reminded them of the years spent on their ship and it felt like they were on a holiday with their daughter, a holiday different from the ones they would usually go to.

But when it was clear that the ship had been built perfectly, it was time for Esther to go. They could do nothing more for her – they had often asked to accompany her, a so big sacrifice that she had vehemently refused, knowing they would be extremely uncomfortable in returning to Earth, even if just for a few months. But their love for her was so big and strong they offered to come with her even the last day, when all the things she would need had been packed neatly in the sleek, aerodynamic ship.

She refused again and tried to reassure them; she felt elated, excited, and scared all at the same time. She had grown up a little in that year, but she wouldn’t get taller nor would her facial features change anymore. She had reached that age when stopped aging and their immortality truly started to show on their faces.

“Esther, our little moon.” Charlotte hugged her tightly, unable to hold back her tears. “Promise us you will be careful!” She pulled away to cradle her face in her shaky hands. “If you get too scared, come back home immediately. Don’t strain yourself. You could try again in a few years.”

“I promise, Mom.” Esther kissed her cheek and Charlotte sobbed and sniffled before hugging her again. “Mom, don’t cry! I will try to contact you every day. Mr. Butler gave me the input coordinates of the communicator here on the City. I will send you messages and videos!”

Meier joined them in the hug, wrapping his strong arms around them and resting his cheek on top of Esther’s head. She patted his back when she heard him cry, too.

“Dad, come on! It will be alright!”

“Don’t go near big towns. That’s where people have more and better weapons.” She gave him a fond look, already knowing what was about to follow. They had been repeating the same things to her for months, now. “Always introduce yourself politely! Don’t stare. Try to shake hands, but if they don’t want to, a bow is also fine.”

“Buy or ask for a map!” Charlotte turned to her husband, gasping. “Do you think they still sell maps in towns and cities? They used to sell them in ours, remember?”

“I think so, yes. Only twenty years and something have passed since our last time on Earth. I doubt things have changed much.”

“Oh!” Esther’s face lightened up like the rooms of their cosy castle. “Do you want me to take something from your old city? Dad, if your castle is still there…”

“ _No!_ ”

Both her parents had shouted in unison, their grip on her so strong it almost hurt her despite her dhampir nature. They looked horrified, as though they couldn’t believe she had had such an insane idea.

“Esther, that city is too dangerous for you!” Charlotte took her hands, shaking her head. “Dhampirs aren’t allowed in it and your grandfather might still be alive. Should he recognize you…” She started crying again and Meier supported her both with his touch and his words: “Your mother is right, Esther. You must avoid that place at all costs. You know its name and its whereabout in the Western Sector; steer clear from it and never set foot in it!”

“But… if I talked to them, if I told them how happy you are, maybe they… they wouldn’t hurt me.” She was still trying to find some good in them, a chance to restore that broken family thread, but Charlotte and Meier insisted that nothing could be done about it.

“Esther, please. They don’t see any good in Nobles and dhampirs. They would refuse to listen to you, just like they refused to listen to me.” Charlotte slightly shook her hands clasped in hers. “Please, starlight, promise us you won’t go there!”

“I…”

Meier was begging her with his eyes, too, and she promised with a solemn nod of her head, even though her heart wasn’t completely convinced.

“Try to go to the Barbaroi first. They will help you, especially after learning you are our child.” Meier fixed the collar of her coat so that it would better cover her nape. She had chosen heavy clothes with light colours to better protect herself from the sun and had added pouches and small bags to the belt of her comfortable pants.

“Eat and drink a lot. Should you ever need more food, try to buy it from the friendlier towns. And if they won’t sell it to you, then steal it!”

“Mom! You said stealing is bad!”

“Yes, but…!” Charlotte blushed and pouted, saying quickly: “In this case, it’s necessary! Leave some coins on the floor or counter to pay for it. There, in that case it won’t be stealing!”

“Everything will be alright.” Esther smiled at her and rubbed her arms. “Mom, believe me. I will be back soon.” She turned to her father and rested a hand on his shoulder. “Dad, don’t cry. This will be a beautiful experience, I’m sure of it.”

“I hope so.” he said softly, sniffling. The family shared another long embrace, during which Meier and Charlotte pressed their faces into their daughter’s hair to stamp her scent into their memory and be with her a little longer. It hurt them physically to let her walk away, into the ship. Moon and Cosmos were already inside, waiting for her, and the entire robot population of the City was gathered on the landing docks to say goodbye to their precious lady. All of them were crying and waving at her and Meier and Charlotte did the same, crying blessings and good luck wishes and words of love.

Esther started the engine of the ship without much trouble, by now knowing perfectly the buttons she needed to press and the prompts she needed to give to the computer. Her excitement, as she saw the City become smaller as the ship slowly ascended, started to fade away and be replaced by fear and anxiety, a so strong panic she almost stopped breathing for a moment.

She had never left home, the safety and warmth of her family, of her castle, of her gardens, of her robot friends. Earth was waiting for her, with its dangers and ugliness – but also its beauty and stories, she forcefully reminded herself to avoid falling into a panic attack. She couldn’t stop the tears, though, and she allowed herself to cry as she steered the ship away from the City and wrote the coordinates to Earth, Western Sector of the Frontier, into the navigator.

She felt ready and at the same time she felt like a bare, defenceless child. Everything she had read and seen about Earth played in her head like a broken record; she saw scenes of the brutal torture to which dhampirs were subjected by the Nobles who detested them; she remembered the passages of books that described how cruel humans could be even with dhampir babies. She recalled the descriptions of Hunters searching for anything that wasn’t human, paid ungodly sums of money to get rid of it in the best – and often most painful – way possible.

Then she thought of her mother’s kisses and laughter and her father’s smiles and silly jokes and she felt the strongest urge to go back home immediately and forget about that stupid idea of visiting such a maddening planet.

But curiosity and wonder still burned in her, stubborn. She had worked so hard and so long – why couldn’t she succeed in something as simple as exploring a little and finally seeing the world from where everything had begun? She had always been an optimistic person – she wouldn’t let her fears kill that part of her, especially in a place that desperately needed more hope and a more positive view on life.

Hugging Moon and Cosmos, who comforted her with wet kisses and excited panting, she looked one last time back at the City, then charged with full speed into the dark space ahead, Earth only six months away. Pressed against her chest, underneath her coat and shirt, a photograph depicting her with her father and her mother, all smiling joyously at the camera and holding each other tightly, gave her more strength.


	3. Leila

The young man knew he shouldn’t stray far from the path, but the weather was so nice he couldn’t help himself. He could already hear his mother’s scolding and see his father’s frown, but for the moment he preferred focusing on the beautiful sight before him.

The town he lived in was peaceful, surrounded by vast, green fields and protected by the harsher winds by a tall rage of mountains. There were streams of clean water and interesting ruins whose ancient paths led to an important lake his mother liked a lot. There weren’t many mutants and monsters roaming about and those few that succeeded in coming near the outskirts of the town were scared off with a few gunshots and protective barriers.

It was a beautiful place, his mother always said with that melancholic smile that sometimes appeared on her face, and the young man always agreed with her, for he loved it a lot himself. One could find every kind of interesting vegetable and fruit in the woods and fields and there were many animals, which he liked to observe and study when he wasn’t busy helping his parents in their repair shop.

That day, the sun was hotter than usual, even though summer was supposed to be still far. The young man didn’t complain and kept wading through the short grass and bushes, tall flowers tickling his bare legs. He carried the wood his mother had asked him to collect under a well-toned arm, his other hand busy tossing pebbles in the air and at random unliving targets he set for himself.

Just when a cute squirrel dashed in front of him, heading for a tree, and he started marvelling at it with a big smile, he heard something weird. It sounded like a moan or a sob and he stopped in his tracks, focusing his whole attention on it. A minute of silence passed, then he heard it again, better this time. It was a _wail_ , as though someone was crying desperately nearby.

He looked around, confused and distressed. The wailing continued, with an edge of despair and pain in it, and he gulped, his heart racing fast. He walked slowly, trying to find its source. It took him a while, for the fields and trees thrived with loud life and the animals seemed to be as nervous as him.

The sobs were most certainly coming from a small glade where a huge boulder was. The young man squinted hard – the trees weren’t tall and sunlight managed to illuminate the clearing well enough to let him see a ditch dug right at the base of the boulder. He gasped. Had someone, perhaps a child or elder person, fallen into it?

He dropped his wood and ran towards the ditch, but stopped with a scream when two dogs jumped from out there and growled at him, their eyes following his every move. Not that he was moving much: he was too terrified to do anything but breathe, but the dogs didn’t take their eyes off him and he hoped – prayed – they would understand he meant no harm to them and whomever they were trying to protect.

They were clearly cybernetic dogs. The young man had seen many in his parents’ workshop, since they repaired pretty much anything that contained cybernetic parts, metal, engines, or wheels. But there was something different about these ones; not only their eyes seemed more intelligent than the usual dog’s, but their breed was unknown to him and they were clearly treated with extreme care. He had never seen a black or cream fur as silky and smooth as theirs.

“Who… Who is there?” a voice asked, making him jump. It came from the ditch and he looked at it, but he was too far to see the person inside. The dogs kept growling at him until the voice said: “Moon, Cosmos, come here!”

The dogs obeyed and jumped back into the hole. The young man swallowed and didn’t dare come too close to it, but the voice had sounded so sad and pained that he answered right away: “It’s… it’s just me.”

A really lame reply, he realized with a second of delay. A pause, then the person inside the ditch asked, clearly puzzled: “Whatever am I supposed to do with that information?”

“You… You’re right.” The young man hesitated, then took a step forward; the dogs reacted immediately, as well as the unknown person did.

“D-Don’t come closer! Please, first tell me who you are!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you!” He immediately stepped back. “I’m just a man from the town nearby. I was here gathering wood when I heard crying and came to investigate. Are you alright? Can you get out?”

“I… I’m fine.” It was a lie, a badly told one, and the man sighed. He didn’t want to embarrass them, but he really couldn’t leave them there without first making sure they were really alright.

“Can you peek out just a little? That way you will see I’m not armed. Please, let me help you.” He started fidgeting, sweat running down his neck due to the humidity in the clearing. “If you want, I can go call my mother. She’s a nice lady and knows how to treat wounds.”

“I’m not really wounded.” the voice said, timidly. “I’m… I’m just feeling a little dizzy and too hot. I will feel better soon, I’m sure.”

“I don’t think staying in there will help you cool down.” he replied gently, but he didn’t insist and sat down on the hard ground. He needed to catch his breath after the scare the dogs had given him and to collect his thoughts.

“It’s actually much better here than outside.” the mysterious person said. “The earth is chilly and the sunlight doesn’t burn me as badly in here.”

They gasped, but he didn’t hear it, because he chuckled loudly.

“Yeah, it’s so hot today! The meteorological control system must have gotten it wrong.” He waited for a few second before asking as most tactfully as possible: “Why were you crying?”

A pause, then they answered, a quiet whisper he barely heard: “I miss my parents.”

His heart hurt at those words. He cursed his curiosity, hoping he hadn’t upset them again. Had they recently lost them? Were they all alone, then, with just their dogs protecting them and keeping them company?

“I’m so sorry.”

“Oh, it’s not like that! They are just very far right now. I made a long trip and I’m not used to… to all this.”

“Oh!” He smiled, relieved, and a huge weight got off his chest. “I’m glad, then! Where do you come from? Another Sector of the Frontier?”

The person hummed, then: “Not… not really.”

He dropped the topic – sometimes he knew when to do that, although he could be “as curious as a little monkey”, as his mother would often say with a cheeky grin.

“Listen, do you have everything you need down there? Water, food? I have some dry meat, if you want.”

“I’m fine, really. I hid my ship nearby and brought everything I need.” Then they gasped loudly and his curiosity was set aflame again.

“Your _ship_?” He scrambled to his feet, mouth hanging open. “The sea is far from here! What are you saying?”

“N-Nothing! You heard it wrong!”

“I didn’t! You clearly said ‘ship’!”

“That’s not true!”

“It is!”

The dogs started growling again and he closed his mouth, before inhaling through his nose, his brain working ten times faster than usual. He had no idea who that person was and where they came from, but they didn’t sound dangerous, only very scared and confused. He could still hear traces of tears in their voice, as though they were about to cry again any second now, and he didn’t have the heart to leave them there, all alone.

“Listen. The town isn’t far. If you want, you can come to my house and rest a little there. My mother will help you.”

“N-No, thank you. I’m on an important mission.”

“Well, whatever that is, it can wait a little, don’t you think? It’s way too hot to go anywhere today, especially if you are already feeling weak.”

“I will feel better soon. I have all I need here.”

“Are you planning on waiting until dusk? We may be in a decent part of the Sector, but it’s still dangerous to be out at night! A mutant might find you!”

“I know how to defend myself.” they haughtily replied and he let out a groan, feeling he would go mad soon if he insisted.

He was about to wish them good luck when the wheezing began. At first, it was a simple coughing fit, but it quickly turned into something worse and he stared at the hole with horror. The dogs started whining and crying and he realized the person in there was actually really ill or seriously wounded.

Hoping not to get mauled by the protective beasts, he ran to the ditch and looked inside, exclaiming: “Are you alright?!”

His blood froze in his veins. Inside the hole, dressed in rich traveller clothes, there was a dhampir, a young woman. He had never seen a dhampir before, but his mother would often talk about one she had met many years ago and her descriptions fit what he was seeing: pale skin, pointy ears, longer than usual canines, and long, hard nails.

She couldn’t breathe; she kept wheezing, desperately trying to let air into her lungs, a hand around her throat, sweat running down her temples. Her silvery white hair was glued to her forehead and her amber eyes were staring at nothing. She was shaking and her two dogs whined and cried, licking her face and pressing their snouts against her chest.

The young man stared at her for a long time, torn between fear and compassion, until the latter won and he rested a hand on her shoulder.

“H-Hey! What… What is happening?”

She wheezed louder, her eyes barely seeing him, and he cursed under his breath. He didn’t know much about dhampirs, only what his mother had told him and what he had heard around. He knew they were much stronger than the average human thanks to their Noble heritage, but that they also inherited the weaknesses of the Nobles.

And that was when he understood. He gasped and looked at the green canopy above their heads and, even above that, at the sunrays fighting their way through the leaves.

“This… This is a case of sun syndrome, isn’t it?” he asked the young woman and she managed to nod. He remembered his mother saying she had saved her dhampir friend during one of such attacks.

_“He had been out in the sun too long. He needed to rest in a quiet, dark place, partially covered by soil.”_

That dhampir woman had tried to do the same, to find refuge in the cold, damp earth. But either that hadn’t been enough for her body or she had done it wrong, not covering herself in the right way or with the right amount of earth. Maybe she had been too late? He had no idea, but he couldn’t leave her like that. She was a dhampir and they didn’t have the best reputation in the Frontier, but his mother actually defended them and nobody in the town dared argue with her when she did that.

He didn’t hesitate any longer. He went back to the wood he had dropped on the ground earlier and took the long cloth he had wrapped around it to avoid chafing his arm. He went back to the hole and draped the cloth over the girl, covering her completely. Then he helped her get out and lifted her onto his back. He was a tall young man, used to manual labour, and he knew he could reach his home soon if he ran.

“Where… Where are you taking me?” she choked out as he started sprinting towards the main road, the dogs quickly following him and staring up at their lady with worried eyes.

“Home to my mother! She will know what to do!” He slightly turned his head to look at her. “Cover yourself with the cloth and close your eyes! Don’t look at the light!”

She started crying and that only made things worse. Her breathing got worse and he heard her raspy intakes of breath as she struggled for every scrap of air. His house stood a bit far from the rest of the town and he was glad for that: he only startled some chickens and got a few lazy stares from the cows eating their grass in the nearby farm. Everyone else was busy in their own houses or in the shops and pub of the town.

“Mom!” he called as he opened the front door with a kick. “Mom, help!”

The dhampir woman wasn’t wheezing anymore, but that was actually a bad sign: he couldn’t hear her mumble or breathe anymore and his heart got stuck in his throat at the thought of her dying. He was a kind-hearted boy, his mother often told him, and that dhampir hadn’t hurt anyone as far as he knew. She didn’t deserve to die like that, far from her home and her parents.

His mother quickly emerged from the door that led to the workshop, directly annexed to the house. She fixed her bright blue eyes on him and the covered figure on his back and the many freckles on her face looked darker when she paled.

“Grove! What’s wrong?! Are you hurt?!”

“No, but she is!” He carried the dhampir to the sofa near the fireplace and lay her down, making sure to cover her from the sunlight entering from the windows. She was still breathing, her eyes open, and he let out a relieved sigh before gasping.

“The curtains!”

He rushed to close them until the entire room was dark, eliciting a “Hey!” from his mother, then he went back to the dhampir. Her amber eyes shone in the shadows and her breathing got louder.

Grove turned to his mother, pleading her with his eyes, but she didn’t see him. She was staring at the young woman, her blue eyes studying her face, her mouth slightly open. She approached her, ignoring the dogs whining at the foot of the sofa, and rested a hand on her cold forehead.

“A dhampir.” she murmured. “Grove, where…?”

“In the woods near the town. I heard crying and found her in a hole, trying to hide herself from the sun. We talked a little, but then she started breathing bad and I didn’t know what to do!” He moved in front of her, panic in his eyes, which were identical to hers. “Mom, you said you met a dhampir before! This is sun syndrome, right? You helped your friend with it!”

His mother nodded, then a resolute look came on her face. She took the dhampir’s hand and squeezed it; the dhampir looked at her, softness in her eyes, and squeezed her hand back.

“Don’t worry.” the human woman said. “Everything will be alright. I promise you.”

The dhampir made a timid noise, then closed her eyes. It seemed the dark, fresh room was already improving her conditions, but Grove (and the poor dogs) couldn’t stop fretting over her. His mother told him to go prepare something nutritious – something with a lot of meat – while she made things better for the poor lady. He begrudgingly obeyed, but always found the time between a stir and another to make sure everything was alright.

His mother had put some pillows under the dhampir’s head to help her breathe and had better covered her with a dark blanket. She had also tightened the closed curtains and turned on the air conditioning unit in the room, decreasing the temperature until it was cold enough for Grove to absentmindedly rub his arms and for his mother to put a heavier jacket on.

The dhampir seemed to love it, though, because her breathing immediately got better and a relaxed, peaceful expression appeared on her face.

The expression Grove saw on his mother’s face, on the other hand, was somewhat perturbed. He thought she was worried about what the neighbours might say, so he hurried to reassure her, as he carried a bowl of beef soup and placed it on the small table near the sofa.

“Nobody saw me, I’m sure of it. And even if someone did, tomorrow we can just tell them it was a random traveller I found in the woods and that they left early morning.”

“I’m not worried about that.” His mother kept staring at the dhampir’s face, studying her nose and closed eyes. “It’s just… I feel like I’ve seen her before. It’s strange, but she looks familiar.”

“Maybe you met her during one of your jobs?”

Everyone in town knew that his mother had been a formidable Huntress, back in the old days. Her team – her adoptive brothers - didn’t exist anymore, killed during a particularly hard mission – mission that had also convinced his mother to stop killing Nobles and monsters and build a better life. That was also when she had met the dhampir who had become her friend. They still wrote to each other, after all those years, but Grove had never met him.

Neither Grove nor his father knew what the mission had been about, but it was clearly important to her and they had always respected her choice not to say more. So now he asked that question timidly, not wanting to bother her and stir painful memories. He was named after the adoptive brother she had loved most, after all, and he knew his death had been particularly hard to her.

She shook her head, still looking at the dhampir woman.

“No, I’m sure that’s not it. I never _met_ her before, but…” She sighed and smiled at him, ruffling his hair, brown like his father’s and badly cut like hers. She was still used to cutting it with a knife – a habit from her old life - instead of going to the local hairdresser and Grove had learned to cut it her way.

“You did good, Grove. She would have died out there.”

“Thanks, Mom.” They smiled at each other, then he moved his eyes to the dhampir and said softly: “She was crying when I found her. She’s told me she’s come from very far and that she misses her parents.”

“Oh?” His mother suddenly got more attentive.

“They are not dead, she just made a long, long trip. But when I asked her if she came from another Sector, she told me it wasn’t exactly like that.” He looked back at his mother. “I wonder what she meant.”

She frowned, thinking hard, then asked: “What else did she tell you?”

“She mentioned a ship.”

“A ship?”

“Yes. She said she hid her ship nearby and brought everything she needed with her.” Grove shook his head, more confused than before. “But that doesn’t make any sense! We are far from the sea!”

His mother’s face changed in an instant. Wide-eyed, she went back to the dhampir and stared at her so hard and for so long he feared she was feeling sick, too. He saw her move her lips and when he got closer to ask her if she was feeling well, he heard the words.

“It can’t be… Can it? A ship…”

“Mom?”

She broke free from her reverie and looked at him, even more resolute than before.

“Grove. Don’t tell anyone about this. We need to keep her safe.”

“Of course! Good thing Dad is out of town for that important job. I’m not sure how he would have taken this.”

“He would have helped her, too, but it’s better this way.” Grove’s mother walked to the workshop door and opened it, making sure not to let too much light through. Before closing it behind herself, she told him: “Call me when she wakes up.”

She spent the whole day in the workshop, fixing the latest motorcycle they had brought her, and Grove and the two loyal dogs watched over the dhampir woman in silence, waiting for her recovery.

 

\- - -

 

For a moment, after opening her eyes, Esther believed she was still in the City of the Night. But then she realized she couldn’t see any stars through the ceiling, which wasn’t transparent like the one in her room, but wooden. She wasn’t resting on her bed, but on a sofa in an unknown living room and the blanket draped over her was rough and old, with no stars and moons knitted on it.

She remembered her six-months trip through the stars. It had been comfortable and she had been able to talk with her parents through the communicator on board. She hadn’t felt alone; it had felt like an unusual holiday rather than a dangerous trip to a dangerous place.

Then she had landed. The ship systems had given her an approximate position and she had found herself in a secluded clearing, well-hidden from curious eyes. It had been night and for a moment she had forgotten she was on another planet, far from her home, from her beloved parents and robot friends.

The air smelled different and she couldn’t recognize all the flowers, plants, and animals surrounding her. She only knew the name of some of them thanks to the books she had read and the videos and movies she had watched. Everything else was new to her and she had walked through the forest with her mouth hanging open. Then, she had hurried back to the ship, taken everything she could need from it, and made sure to hide it with leaves, twigs, and moss.

She needed to know where she was if she wanted to find it again later. She was sure nobody had seen her land – the ship was silent and she had turned off its lights as soon as she had caught a glimpse of the ground. But she hadn’t paid attention to the surroundings before landing and she didn’t know whether there was a town or city there or not. She needed to contact her parents, tell them she was fine, and she needed a map and information.

Then the sun had risen. Her dogs had been the first ones to notice it; they had stopped and sniffed the air, then had started barking at the sky. When she had looked up, she had seen something she had never seen before: the horizon slowly going from black to violet, then pink, then yellow. She had stared at it, her heart beating so fast she had felt dizzy, then the sun had appeared and her eyes had started tearing up.

It was different from her training in the City. The sun was beautiful, but ruthless: nothing could stop it on its journey to the apex of the sky, not even the occasional clouds that would barely cover it. Its rays gave life to the plants and animals there and made dew and water sparkle beautifully, but they burned her skin and made her head throb. She loved it and hated it at the same time and it knew that.

At first, she had kept walking through the woods without much difficulty. But despite the trees shielding her a little, she hadn’t been able to resist much longer and she had soon felt like fainting, a dull pain behind her eyes, her legs like jelly, her throat burning.

Her parents had told her what to do in those cases. Dig a hole in a shadowy, cool place, surround herself with earth, and wait for night-time. She had tried doing that, helped by her dogs – without which she would have gone crazy with worry -, but she hadn’t felt much better.

She had started crying, missing her parents terribly. She cursed herself for that stupid idea of going to Earth, a place that clearly wanted her dead. What would she even tell the people who had met her parents? The Huntress in red had saved them, yes, but she had also lost her team. The Hunter D and her father hadn’t gotten along at all and he would despise her, for all she knew. The Barbaroi might not even let her enter their village; just because she was a dhampir, the daughter of a Noble they had helped, didn’t mean they would be willing to listen to her. Three of them had – presumably – died to help her parents – maybe they were angry about that.

She wanted her mother to hold her and smooch her face. She wanted her father to ruffle her hair and hold her hand. She wanted to help the robots in the kitchens and in the farm and play with Moon and Cosmos – she had dragged them along in this mad adventure, too! – in the beautiful field of silver flowers.

She had cried and cried until that man had come. And now here she was, probably in his mother’s house like he had told her. She had expected to be brought to the sheriff or to some Hunter to be executed, to be honest, but it seemed he had been sincere with her. The room was dark, the sofa soft and comfortable, the pillows under her head helped her breathe better, and there was a bowl of soup on the table near her.

Moon and Cosmos were sleeping on the floor, right next to her, and she smiled at them. She still felt weak, but her throat didn’t burn anymore and her headache had passed.

“Mom!” she heard someone whisper. “Mom, come!”

She heard footsteps and a door closed. A woman slowly approached, the young man from before right behind her. They had the same eyes, Esther noticed. He had really brought her to his mother, then.

“Hi!” the woman said with a tender, reassuring smile. There were laugh-lines around her mouth and freckles on her face. Her blond hair was cut short in a funny way, some locks longer than the others, and she looked like she worked a lot.

“H-Hello.” Esther recalled all the good manners rules her mother had taught her. She slowly sat up, grimacing in pain a little, and shyly extended her hand, ready to pull it back in case the woman would be too disgusted to accept it. “I’m… I’m Esther. Thank you for helping me, ma’am.”

“Hey, no need to be so formal!” The woman laughed and shook her hand amicably, making Esther relax and smile in relief. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Esther. I’m Leila.” She turned to the young man, who was watching her with a timid smile. He waved at her. “And this is my son, Grove.”

“Hello!” Esther’s smile broadened and she felt hope and warmth invade her. Moon and Cosmos had gotten up at the sound of her voice and were whining happily, wagging their tails. She caressed their heads and cooed at them, before looking up at the two kind humans again.

“Thank you so much for helping me! I don’t know what would have happened, had I stayed in that hole.”

“You’d probably have died.” Leila said simply, sitting on the small table and handing her the bowl. “Here, it’s beef soup. It will do you good, the meat is full of blood.”

“Thank you.”

She had never eaten simple beef soup before. She usually ate other, more complex dishes with her mother or drank artificial blood like her father. She had brought a large quantity of the pills with her, so many they would last her more than a year if she was careful enough.

The soup was good, though. Different from anything she had ever eaten – she realized now she had lived a privileged life, up in the City, one that the majority of the people in the Frontier couldn’t even dream of.

She discreetly observed the house she was in. She had never been in someone else’s house before and it struck her how different it was from her castle, but also how similar. It was rustic, simple, with tones of brown and red and orange, but full of the same trinkets and small details that showed that a happy family lived in it.

“Do you like it?” Leila asked with a big smile and Esther replied with a nod of her head and a smile in return.

“Thank you. It’s really good.”

“I… I made it!” Grove intervened. It seemed he didn’t dare come closer and she thought he was scared of her, despite the way he had helped her.

“Thank you, Grove.” she told him, already fond of him. She tilted her head, confused, when she saw him blush and look away, his big, calloused hands playing with the hem of his shirt.

“My son told me you come from far away.” Leila suddenly said, her smile still there.

“Mom!”

“What?” She looked at him, blushing. “I just want to break the ice!”

“You are even more curious than me!”

Esther bit her lips, remembering what she had blurted out while in the hole. She had mentioned her precious ship and almost revealed that she came from the stars. She didn’t know how the humans – or anyone else – would react to the news that ships like that could be made, that they were based on old starships created by the Nobility, and that there was a beautiful City hidden in space.

She was sure there were good humans, dhampirs, and perhaps even Nobles who would cause no harm – and one of her duties, she felt, was to find them if she could -, but she had to be careful. If someone with less than good intentions learned the news, she could put her parents in danger.

“That’s true.” she said, but refused to say more. Only when Leila cleared her throat and opened her mouth again, she added: “It’s been a long journey.”

“With your ship?” Leila wasn’t smiling anymore. Her blue eyes were staring at her, looking for any detail that could tell her more, and Esther swallowed, tensing up.

“I… Yes.” She couldn’t deny it, not in front of Grove. What was she supposed to say?

She looked down at the half-empty bowl, her hands slightly shaking. She had just arrived and she had already made a disaster!

“Well, you must have walked a lot. The sea is more than five days of car ride from here. No wonder you were exhausted.”

Esther seized the chance and nodded, grateful for that excuse. But she realized too late that Leila had offered it to her on purpose, to see whether she was lying or not. The human woman kept staring at her and Esther didn’t utter a word, her eyes glued to the soup, her cheeks darker with embarrassment.

“Anyway, I’m glad Grove found you!” Leila exclaimed cheerfully, clapping her hands and standing up. “You can stay here for as long as you like. Rest and recover and let us know if you need anything. Don’t be shy!”

“Thank you!” Esther beamed at her, relieved that the questions were over, then gasped. “W-Wait! Is there a communicator here? I need to contact my parents, let them know I’m fine!”

“There is one on that desk over there. Do you need help to get up?”

She shook her head and got on her feet. Her head felt too light, but her legs weren’t shaking anymore. She walked over to the desk, Leila’s hand hovering over her back in case she suddenly fell, and sat down with a sigh.

“All good?” Leila asked her with a concerned look. Esther nodded and thanked her again before turning on the communicator. Leila walked away to give her privacy and she wrote down the coordinates of the City, hoping that machine was strong enough to reach her parents.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t. The communicator whirred for a long time before telling her that the second machine couldn’t be reached. She gasped and tried again, thrice, but the answer was always the same.

She started crying, panic rising. Her parents would be so worried! She could already see her mother sob, a hand pressed on her mouth, and hear her father blame himself, hands in his hair, both believing her wounded or dead.

“What will I do?” she murmured, shaking on the chair. “Oh, Mom, Dad, I’m so sorry!”

“Esther!” Leila ran to her and rested a comforting hand on her shoulder, her voice soft. “Esther, what’s wrong? It isn’t working?”

“N-No. It says it’s too far.”

“Damn it, I’m so sorry! I knew this shit was old, but I thought…” Leila glanced at the screen, lips pursued, and tried to find a way to make it work. When she read the coordinates Esther had written, though, her breath hitched in her throat and she gave a sidelong look to the dhampir. It took her a long second to recollect herself.

“Listen, there is a bigger city not far from here. I will take you there first thing tomorrow morning. They have a rather powerful communicator in the sheriff office there, I’m sure they will let you use it. They did for me when I needed to contact my husband.”

She took her hand and squeezed it hard. Esther looked up at her through a veil of tears and saw she was smiling, a motherly, warm smile that made her heart clench with homesickness.

“Don’t worry, you will contact your parents soon, I promise.” Leila grinned at her. “So don’t cry! Lemme see your smile!”

Esther obliged, sincerely feeling a bit better, and Leila nodded, satisfied.

“Good. Now, do you want to see your room? I tidied up the guest room for you. Don’t worry, it’s dark, cool, and most importantly clean.”

“Oh, you shouldn’t have! The sofa would have been good, really!”

“Nonsense.” Leila patted her back and helped her rise from the chair, before taking the bowl left on the table. “It’s still warm. Eat it, it will help you!” A sheepish expression came on her face as Esther sat back down on the sofa. “Forgive me, we don’t have any blood or blood pills in the house. But we can go find some tomorrow!”

“It’s alright, I have mine.” Esther patted one of her satchels, full to the brim with many pills. The rest was stored safely in the ship and more were in the bag that still hang from her shoulder. “Um, Miss Leila?”

“Just Leila.”

“Leila, uh… Do you have any map of the area?” She fidgeted, nervous, hoping not to look suspicious again. “I… I lost mine.”

“I have one!” Grove ran out of the room and came back a few minutes later, carrying a flat screen. He tapped it and a detailed map appeared on it. According to the dot blinking on it, they weren’t too far from the Western Sector and the village of the Barbaroi was even closer.

“Oh!” Esther gasped in delight. “Thank you! This is so useful!”

“Do you need a ride anywhere? I could lend you my cybernetic horse. It’s not very fast, but it’s pretty reliable.” Grove looked down at the dogs, who were sleeping peacefully. “I’m not sure how you could travel with your dogs, though.”

“Don’t worry, they are used to riding with me!”

Leila laughed at that, already imagining the scene, and Esther let out a laugh as well, feeling more relaxed now that she knew where she was. She had promised her parents not to go to the city where they had met each other, but a short visit in the middle of the night couldn’t hurt, right? And the Barbaroi were so close!

“Are you looking for a place in particular?” Grove asked, finding the courage to sit in front of her on the small table, like his mother had done before. Esther nodded, still smiling. There was no danger in revealing them that part of her journey, she thought. They didn’t need to know that the people she was looking for had helped her parents reach the stars.

“I’m looking for some friends of my parents.” She tapped on the screen, enlarging the map on the name of the lake near the town they were in. Chiffon Lake – her mother had mentioned it to her, saying that was where she had met the Hunter D and the Huntress in red for the first time. Being so close to the places her parents had travelled through made her tingly with excitement.

“Why don’t you contact them, then? I’m sure they would find a way to let your family know you’re fine!”

“I… Well, I don’t know where they live, exactly.” She smiled sheepishly, blushing. “I do know that three of them came from the village of the Barbaroi, but I don’t know if they are still alive.”

She didn’t see Leila tense up in the kitchenette and turn to her, her eyes wide.

“Another one is a Vampire Hunter, a dhampir like me. I’m pretty sure he’s still alive - my father told me he was the best in his field.”

Leila slowly came closer, her eyes fixed on her. They were blurry with tears, but neither Esther nor Grove noticed it.

“And then there was another Vampire Huntress, a woman in red. But I don’t even know her first name, only that she belonged to a powerful team of Hunters.” Esther sighed and turned off the map. “She will probably be the hardest one to find.”

“You could ask for a list of Hunters at the sheriff’s office. If the team still exists, it should be listed there.” Grove suggested with a reassuring, warm smile.

“It doesn’t exist anymore. Everyone except for the Huntress died.” Esther hummed, thinking hard. “But I know its name. I guess that might help, right?”

“Yes, I’m sure! Even the records of old Hunter teams are kept for future reference! Isn’t that right, Mom?” Grove looked at his mother and gasped when he saw the tears in her eyes. “Mom…?”

“That team.” Leila said slowly, considering every word. “How was it called?”

“The Marcus clan.” Esther jumped when Grove choked on his saliva and started coughing and when she turned back to Leila, she was shocked to see tears run down her face and a joyous smile on it.

“Oh, it _is_ you! I knew it was you!”

Leila kneeled down to be at her eye level and grasped her shoulders, saying with the greatest happiness and wonder in the world: “You are Meier Link and Charlotte Elbourne’s daughter, aren’t you?”


	4. A Message

Leila recovered from her outburst and sent Grove out, pushing him out of the house and telling him not to return until a few hours. He protested in vain, wishing to know why she had cried, who those people she had mentioned were, but she was as stubborn as him, even more so, and won in the end.

She returned to Esther with a big smile on her face and still-wet eyes. Esther stared at her, not believing she had been so lucky to land a short distance away from the house of the Huntress in red that had saved her parents’ life.

“It’s not a particularly happy story. Not until the end, at least.” Leila told her, sitting in front of her again, resting her elbows on her knees to better lean in and watch her face. “Things were different back then. I was different.”

“I know. Mom told me you were very angry at her.”

Leila blushed and looked away for a second, before settling her blue eyes back on Esther.

“Yes, I was. I just couldn’t believe a relationship like that could exist. I thought she was crazy and being a child.” She sighed, lacing her fingers together. “But when I saw them on that bridge and then at the Castle, I…”

She smiled again and patted Esther’s arm amicably, making her smile in return.

“Well, I’m glad it all ended up well in the end. I knew your father would be able to help your mother on the ship. No way a thing like that wouldn’t have some magical infirmary or some stuff like that!”

“You saved them.” Esther fought her shyness and found the courage to take Leila’s hand in hers. “You are the one that made their dream come true! They would have never known such happiness and I would have never been born, if it hadn’t been for you! So…” She got up, her legs finally feeling stronger, and bowed like her parents had taught her.

“Thank you so much!” she said, still holding Leila’s hand in hers. “Thank you, on behalf of my parents, too!”

“Hey, hey.” Leila laughed, getting up and patting her arm again. “No need to be so formal, I told you! And no need to thank me. I don’t have the words to tell you how much my life changed for the better since I did what I did.”

Esther felt great affection for the smiling woman bloom in her heart. She had always ever known her parents and the robots in the City of the Night, but she knew that what she was feeling was akin to the love she felt for them. Was this what it felt like to have an aunt?

“Would you like to see them? I have a picture right here.”

She took it out of her jacket, the precious photo she had hidden there to always have her parents close to her heart in that distant, so different planet. It depicted all of three of them together, smiling at the camera, surrounded by their beloved robots, Moon and Cosmos sitting near the sofa.

Leila gasped and tenderly took the picture in her hands, tracing Meier and Charlotte’s faces with a fingertip. He hadn’t changed much – just a few wrinkles and laugh lines here and there – while Charlotte had visibly aged a bit. But they looked incredibly happy and in love and they were holding Esther tightly between them, the gorgeous interior of their castle visible behind them.

“Ah.” Leila smiled again and tears returned in her eyes. “Look at you. You’re such a beautiful family.”

She touched their faces again, studying every detail, then asked for more information. She wanted to know everything and Esther told her, starting from what her parents had told her about their life on the ship, describing the City of the Night, her initial fear of Earth, and then her growing desire to visit it and meet the people who had helped her mother and her father.

Leila was surprised to hear they were the only inhabitants of the City, except for the kind robots. She listened to her description of the castle, of the streets and shops, of their daily life and hobbies with the same smile as before. They talked for more than two hours and it was only then that they remembered about the message Esther hadn’t been able to send them yet.

“I will send Grove to the town nearby. I don’t want your parents to be sick with worry!” Leila said, hastily drying the tears on her cheeks before taking a pen and a piece of paper and scribbling something on it. “Is it okay if I add something, too? I want to greet your parents decently and show them you’re in good hands.”

“Of course!”

Leila ran to a corner of the room where a wardrobe was. She rummaged in it until she found a square leather box – she opened it in front of Esther to let her see its content, a small, old camera not too different from the one Esther and her family used in the City, but clearly of human origins and way simpler.

“The communicator in the next town also has a scan. We could send them a photo to fully reassure them, what do you say?”

“Oh, yes, please!” Esther clapped her hands, blushing happily at the thought of taking a picture with that kind woman who meant so much to her and her parents. Leila looked happy, too, and their joy was visible in the picture she printed with an old, dusty machine partially hidden behind a curtain.

“Well, I’d say it came out nice! I’m glad this old piece of junk still works. It’s been a while since we used it.” She ruffled Esther’s hair with a grin, then marched to the front door and opened it, shouting at the top of her lungs: “Grove! Grove!”

“I’m here, Mom!”

“Take my motorbike and go to the next town! You need to send this message for Esther.”

Grove appeared at the door, slightly panting. Esther wondered where he had been – maybe simply around the fields, looking for something to do? -, but he looked more than eager to do that favour for her. Leila had also written down the coordinates of the City and he too eyed them with surprise like she had done before.

But when his mother started scolding him and telling him to hurry before it got dark, he snapped out of it and bowed his head to Esther before running into the shop. She heard the loud sound of an engine being turned on, then an unfamiliar noise that she had heard only in the movies, that of a vehicle – so different from the carriage her family used – moving away.

“Good! He should be back in a few hours. Don’t worry, your parents will be reassured soon.” Leila put a hand on her shoulder and smiled brightly down at her. “Now, would you like to eat something else before resting a little? I’ve got the feeling you really need to lie down on a decent bed for a bit.”

“Yes, I am still a little tired.” But despite the heaviness she felt in her limbs and bones, she didn’t want to leave that cosy room. “Would… Would it be okay for me to stay here a little while more, though? I wish to speak more with you.”

“Alright, but once we’re finished talking, you’re going straight to bed, young miss!” Leila wagged a finger in front of her face, making her laugh. “What about your adorable dogs? I didn’t even think of offering them anything, poor dears. Let me give them some water.”

Moon and Cosmos weren’t wary of her, after seeing how much care she had given their Esther. They let Leila pet them and accepted her food and her water, then fell asleep by the couch, always close to their young owner.

Esther and Leila spent a good part of the afternoon talking about their lives. Leila had stopped being a Huntress after the events with the bloody Countess and had married a sweet man. Together, they owned a repair shop for vehicles and the various useful machines one needed to survive in the Frontier. It was a good life, better than the future she had imagined for herself while fighting day and night with her adoptive brothers, walking in gore and having no chance of finding any kind of peace.

“It was a hard life.” she admitted, even though she would never do so in front of D – in fact, she never had, but she knew that _he knew_ what she felt and thought thanks to the letters they sent each other.

“Tell me more about him.” Esther was incredibly curious about the infamous Vampire Hunter. “Dad never wanted to speak much about him. I don’t think he likes him.”

“Well, I wouldn’t be surprised.” Leila chuckled, refilling Esther’s cup of hot coffee. “D kicked his ass twice, if I’m not mistaken. I suppose he was just too strong, even for a Greater Noble.” She took a sip of her own coffee and added: “More than that, he tried to stop him and your mother from getting together. I’m not sure, but from what I could understand, he didn’t want another dhampir to walk on Earth.”

“Oh.” Esther looked down at the mug in her hands. She had guessed as much – her parents had had that impression, too, and they had told her about it -, but it worried her all the same. How would D react upon seeing her and learning who she was? Would he be mad? Would he shout at her and tell her to go back to the City immediately?

She shared those fears with Leila, who tutted and shook her head.

“No, don’t worry about that. First, D is as expressive and emotional as a rock. He _feels_ stuff, he just doesn’t want or know how to show it. So don’t be scared of his reaction.” She raised two fingers. “Second, even if he is annoyed and wants you to go back, he won’t tell you. And if he tells you, just tell him to shove it up his ass and he will stop bothering you.”

Esther blushed and giggled, not used to that language. She wasn’t even completely sure what “shove it up his ass” meant, exactly, but she knew it was funny and Leila laughed with her.

“Will Grove be okay out there?” she asked after a short, comfortable silence. “My parents told me that the Frontier is a dangerous place.”

“It is, but I trained him well. Everyone here knows how to use a gun or defend themselves somehow.”

“My father trained me a little harder after I decided to come here, but…” Esther looked down, suddenly self-conscious about her ignorance and lack of skills on a planet that demanded people to be knowledgeable about a great lot of things.

“You never actually fought against something or someone, right?” Leila concluded for her, a small, lopsided smile on her face, and Esther nodded. “Well, that’s alright. Should you ever need to defend yourself, I’m sure all your training and your Noble instincts will come out. But I doubt you’ll ever need to fight, since I will take you to the Barbaroi myself tomorrow.”

“What? Really?” She gasped in delight, a great weight now off her shoulders. She had been worrying about that, since she couldn’t possibly use her ship and she feared people’s reactions about her dhampir nature. She was ready to talk with them and ask to borrow or buy any kind of vehicle, but knowing that Leila would be with her was a huge relief.

“We will go with my motorbike. It’s got a sidecar, so you and your dogs will be comfortable.” Leila gave her a puzzled look. “Where is your ship, by the way? It’s a miracle nobody saw you land!”

“I hid it in the woods where I fell ill.” Esther’s cheeks turned a darker shade and she looked away again. “I covered it with leaves and twigs, so hopefully nobody will find it until my return.”

“No humans, maybe, but mutants or other creatures might. They like exploring the woods and I’m sure they would be able to sense the special energy a starship emits. So we’re gonna hide it in the garage - it’s big enough for it, I bet.” She got up and looked at her carefully, studying her face. “Do you feel better enough now to accompany me? If you’d rather stay here, I can go find it myself.”

“Oh, I’m alright! I’m feeling so much better, now!” Esther sprang up and her legs didn’t wobble and her head didn’t spin this time. It was almost dark outside and the absence of the sun was giving her strength and making her body feel light, much like she used to feel in the City of the Night. She yearned to be outside under the moonlight – the sun intrigued her, despite its danger and eeriness, but she would always be a child of the moon, no matter what.

She saw Leila pick up a rifle from a wall, but she herself didn’t feel the need to ask for a weapon. As Leila had said, she would try to rely on her training and her Noble heritage in case of problems.

“Could you please tell me more about Earth?” she asked as they stepped outside, her hood well covering her face. There weren’t any people around, like she had expected; night-time was considered too dangerous, even by folks used to shooting and fighting. Again, she hoped Grove was alright.

“Ah, I guess you don’t know much about it.” Leila said softly, motioning her to follow her towards a path. She touched something on her belt and suddenly a small, but powerful flashlight lit up the road ahead. Moon and Cosmos followed them, panting happily, clearly as relaxed as Esther under the familiar rays of a moon.

“Didn’t your parents tell you anything about it?” Leila asked, a bit surprised. She turned bashful all of a sudden. “I mean… I can totally understand if they didn’t reveal certain things about their past. It’s not easy telling your own child you almost got killed for loving someone, just because this someone was a vampire.”

“They… They kept quiet about that for many years.” Esther confirmed with a short nod. She smiled at Leila, happy to reassure her about that topic. “But they got over those events pretty well on the ship, from what they told me! Mom and Dad are very grateful to you – they wanted to name me after you, but they didn’t know your name.”

“Oh.” Leila blushed and quickly turned her head away. Esther heard her sniffle and she giggled, finding her shyness endearing.

“Mom is sure you would have been great friends under different circumstances.”

“Yeah.” Leila’s voice was a bit hoarse and she looked back at the path with some difficulty, not wanting to show her wet eyes to her. “Yeah, I believe that, too.”

“Maybe you could become friends now! How are those called…? Pen-pals?”

Leila laughed, a quiet sound for it was night, but merry all the same. Esther laughed with her and together they headed to the clearing where Grove had found her. Thankfully, the ship was still there, intact, and Esther knew the commands to let it float a few inches from the ground, so that they could bring it more easily to Leila’s garage without alerting anyone.

They hid it there under a huge, old curtain – not before Leila could admire it and try to study all its characteristics and its complex engine. She stopped after realizing she could accidentally break it, not used as she was to the technology of the City, which was still Noble and human like the one they had on Earth, but also different, as it had evolved on a different planet, under different circumstances.

“I promise I will let you fly it before I go back.” Esther told her and Leila’s smile was all the thanks she needed.

An hour or so later, Grove came back. He jumped a little seeing the huge shape of the hidden ship in the garage, but he understood soon enough what it was and he hurried to enter the house, the printed reply to Leila’s message in his hand.

 

\- - -

 

In the City of the Night, hours before Grove’s return, Charlotte was pacing in the living room, wringing her hands and breathing fast, her face pale, her eyes wet. Meier was seated near the fire and was trying to convince her to sit and rest a little.

“Oh, Meier, she must have landed by now, according to the calculations we made! Why hasn’t she contacted us yet?” She choked on a sob, shaking her long chestnut curls. “What if something happened? Oh, Meier, we shouldn’t have let her go!”

“My love, come here.” he insisted again, gentle and soft, and she finally relented, joining him on the sofa. She wrapped her arms around his waist and pressed her face against his chest, crying, while he hugged her tightly and kissed her head.

“She probably hasn’t found a communicator yet. If she landed in the wilds, it might take her a while to reach a town or city.” He didn’t sound entirely convinced, though; fear and anxiety burned in his heart as well and he couldn’t stop his voice from shaking. Charlotte noticed it and she raised her face, cupping his cheek.

“Oh, honey, what shall we do? We don’t even know _if_ she landed!”

“I’m sure she did.” He said that with more confidence than before, sure they had all done a great job with the crafting of the ship. “Maybe she is just resting a little. After all,” he looked at one of the clocks, all set on the Earth hour, “it’s still daytime there.”

“What if… What if the sun hurt her?” Charlotte couldn’t stop coming up with the worst possibilities. Her mind was full of terror and her maternal instincts screamed at her to build another ship as quickly as possible and go rescue their daughter. Meier’s paternal instincts were doing the same and he took a deep breath to calm himself.

“She…” He swallowed and said, his voice hoarser: “She is a clever girl. She knows how dangerous it could be to walk in sunlight, even for a dhampir. I’m sure she is hiding somewhere dark and safe, waiting for night to come.”

He smiled at his wife, hoping his reasoning had reassured her; it had a little and she smiled back, although they were both still very pale and shaken. They held each other, finding strength in each other, and kept waiting.

Then, some hours later – they weren’t even sure how many – the communicator they had moved in the room finally beeped. They shouted out in surprise and ran to it, holding hands. The robots, who had been waiting outside the room, heard it too and rushed in, as worried and anxious as their masters.

“ _Dear Meier Link and Charlotte,_ ” Meier started reading and dread appeared on his and Charlotte’s face. They shared a frightened look, while the robots moaned softly with apprehension, then he continued reading: “ _I’m so sorry this message arrived later than expected. I’m Leila, one of the Hunters that chased you down so many years ago. Esther is here in my house, safe and sound.”_

“Oh!”

Everyone in the room cheered. Meier and Charlotte hugged and kissed, huge grins on their faces, then they got back to the message.

“ _I realized just now how those two last sentences might scare you. Don’t worry, I already adore Esther and everything she stands for. I wouldn’t have made that choice, so many years ago, if you two hadn’t changed me._

_Esther told me about her idea of visiting all the people connected to you. I will accompany her to the Barbaroi. I still can’t believe I was the first one of the list she found – by all accounts, I’m the most difficult to track down! But I’m happy, so happy she did and I swore I will protect her and send her safely back home, once she’s done with her mission. We’ll send you updates whenever we can._

_Thank you for what you did. My life changed for the better and I will be forever grateful to you lovebirds._

_Talk you soon!_

_Leila”_

Husband and wife shared a touched look, still holding hands. There was a picture attached to the message and they opened it; their daughter’s face and that of the Huntress they still remembered so well appeared on the screen, both smiling brightly. Charlotte sobbed happily, resting her head on Meier’s chest, and he held her close, rubbing her waist. They printed both the message and the photo and while the robots looked at them and cheered again, they wrote their reply, their hearts full of gratefulness and peace.

**Author's Note:**

> Another multi-chaptered fic, but this time the focus will be on Meier and Charlotte's legacy and the changes the people they met went through during the years ( ´ ▽ ` )
> 
> This fic is going to be angstier than the previous ones (at least for my standards agshjdf) - every chapter will focus on Esther's meeting with a different set of characters and tags will be added as things proceed. English isn't my first language, so I apologise for any typos ; v ;


End file.
